ENCOUNTER
WITH
EUROPEANS
Economic
Political
Cultural
Ecological
Native Geographies
(Geography /
American Indian Studies 322)
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Prof. Zoltan Grossman
Doctrine of Discovery
America defined as Terra Nullis (Empty Land)
Native subjects of one Crown (sovereign)
Native title taken through purchase or war
Native retains rights of occupancy, land use
Precedents for
the “Other”
Crusades against
Muslims
Roman wars
against “Barbarians”
Burning of Wiccans
(“Witches”)
Expulsion of Moors (Arabs)
& Jews from Spain, 1492
English colonization
of Welsh, Scots, Irish
Early Contact (1492-1600)
Economic: Coastal settlements;
Dependency on Natives
Political: Military conflict, genocide
Cultural: Missionnary conversions
Ecological: Spread of disease
European theory of “Higher Land Use”
America as a
“virgin wilderness”
Agriculture (sedentary)
higher than hunting/
gathering (nomadic)
Justification for taking
“unused” land
Columbian Exchange
“NEW”
Corn
Tomato
Beans
Potato
Peanut
Vanilla
Chocolate
“New World” ahead in crops
Brought greater nutrition &
population to Europe & Africa
“OLD”
Cattle
Pigs
Horses
Sugar
Tea
Coffee
“Old World” ahead in
animal domestication
Brought disease &
transportation to Americas
Ecological Imperialism (Crosby)
“New World” as virgin soil for germs;
biological expansion of Europe
Native lack of natural resistance
Early Euro. fishermen brought disease,
worsened with introduction of pigs
Disease Epidemics
Smallpox
Measles
Flu
Plague
Typhus
Cholera
Chicken pox
Europeans contained own epidemics,
but not among American Indians
Malaria
Effects of Disease
Social & economic devastation:
“End of the world”
Urbanized tribes hit worst
(1539 vs. 1682)
Europeans see as “God’s Will”
Many Natives react by converting
Demographic Crash in North America
Main reason disease. Also famine and war / genocide.
Different regions had different reductions (65-95%).
Estimates
range to
millions
more in
1492
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Population
estimate
(millions)
1500
1890
2000
Spanish Colonization
Economic :
Gold, silver;
Indian labor
Political:
Military conquest
Cultural :
Conversion
Columbus ordered Indian hands chopped off
if they did not deliver enough gold tax
Ecological:
Plantation farms
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Spanish
America
Mexico/Southwest,
Florida,
Caribbean,
W. South America
Spanish
land
grants
Spanish repression of “Indios”
• Hunted with dogs
to near-extinction
on Hispaniola
• Burned resisters
• Enslaved survivors
• Yet intermarriage
resulted in mestizos
Spanish debate
• Indians = Heathens;
best as slaves
(Sepulveda)
• Indians can be
converted
(Las Casas)
French Colonization
Economic:
Cooperation for fur trade,
Deals with “middlemen”
Cultural:
Conversion by “black robes”
Political:
Cohabitation
(resulting in mixed-race Métis)
Ecological:
Exploration (China Passage);
Fur Trade
New France
Quebec, Great Lakes , Louisiana
French
long lots,
based on
river frontage
Quebec, Great Lakes , Louisiana
European view of “Noble Savage”
Native Americans innocent children of nature (Rousseau);
Communal ideas influenced European political thought
Fur Trade
Merchants created Euro. market for American fur
Native market for Euro. manufactured goods
-Beads, guns, alcohol, metal pots, cloth
Euro. dependency on Native labor ;
Native dependency on Euro. goods.
Russian Fur Trade
Aleut sealers in Alaska & California
Fur Trade Era (1600s-1700s)
Economic: Interior trading posts, mutual dependency
Political: Alliances vs. Euro. rivals;
Encouragement of intertribal rivalries
Cultural: Natives adopt
material culture;
Ecological: Disease,
depletion of animals
Middle Ground (Richard White)
Fur Trade in Great Lakes region
transformed both sides
Native culture
influenced French, English too
Métis as “middle men”
Euro.-American slowly
gained dominance,
esp. as animals disappeared
Stimulation of
intertribal wars
Refugees from
Iroquois Wars,
European settlement
Pushed west in
“domino effect”
Wars more intense
over control of fur trade
1st European in Wisconsin, 1634
Hurons took Jean Nicolet to
meet Ho-Chunk at Red Banks on
Green Bay. He dressed as Chinese.
Horse &
Gun Frontier
Spanish brought
horses from Mexico
French brought
guns from Quebec
Overlapped by 1750
in Northern Plains
French and Indian War, 1755-63
Langlade leads Wisconsin Indian troops to
defeat Braddock’s British troops in 1755,
but his French side lost the war
British America, 1763
British set up
royal “charter”
companies:
Hudson Bay
Company
British
Northwest
Company
xxxxx
English grid system
for land speculation
British Colonization
Economic:
Inherited fur trade, but
stressed land for settlement
Cultural:
Conversion but racism;
Intermarriage discouraged
Amherst
orders use
of smallpox
blankets on
on Indians,
1763
Political:
Conquest/genocide,
Treaties with “nations”
Ecological:
Agriculture; Land speculation
Changes in the Land (Cronon)
Disease “emptied” landscape;
gave false impression of “wilderness”
Grazing transformed plant life
Fire suppression closed up open areas
Timbering, new crops changed land
Imagery of Indians
as evil threat
“Civilizing” the “Primitive” “Savage”
English
Latin
Meaning
Civilize
Civilis
“Citify; make a citizen”
Primitive
Primitivus
“First of its kind”
Savage
Salvaticus
“Of the forest”
Indians and Africans
Native slaves could run away or resist;
many died from disease
Africans imported instead; some joined with Indians
A few Southeast Indians owned slaves
Divide & Conquer
British recognize
Native sovereignty
But divide tribes
from each other
Divide tribes’
internal factions
Americans,
Canadians
inherit strategy
Early wars
Native nations
initially dominant
Crown wants trade
Settlers want land
Interests converge
& diverge
British set Proclamation
Line 1763, in response
to Pontiac Revolt;
Colonists resented
Line, leading to 1776
Appalachian barrier
to settlement
American Colonization
Economic:
Land for settlement
Cultural:
Conversion but racism;
Turn Indians into farmers
Political:
Conquest, treaties,
removal, reservation
Ecological:
Agriculture, timber, mines
Settler Colonialism
• Not just for resources, but for land
• Settle poor as social “safety valve”
• Settlers “set up” to fight indigenous peoples
Settler Colonialism Elsewhere
Whites in
Southern Africa
Protestants in Northern Ireland
Russians in Siberia
Chinese
in Tibet
Israelis in West Bank
Brief Unity in
Tecumseh War
Unified tribes to
fight vs. Americans
with British, 1812
Allied with Prophet
to spread word
Shawnee leader
killed in 1813;
unity never regained
Patterns
of Colonization
Soldiers sent to pacify:
Loss of sovereignty.
Missionaries sent to Christianize: Loss of culture
Settlers sent to capitalize:
Loss of land
Binary View
Black-white view of Natives as not fully human
• Native as bad
– Dangerous savage; evil threat
• Native as good
– Noble savage; close to nature
• Native bad, but can be saved
– Conversion; assimilation
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